108 MEMOIR OP BFRCKHARDT. 



Suez is an unhealthy town, surrounded by bar- 

 ren wastes ; the air is bad, occasioned by the saHne 

 nature of the earth, and the extensive low grounds 

 on the north and north-east sides, which are filled 

 with stagnant water by the tides. It carries on a 

 small trade with Egypt and Arabia, and might rise 

 to some importance, Avere it to become an entrepot 

 in the reo;u]ar steam communication between Great 

 Britain and India. 



From this town, Burckhardt continued his route 

 along the inner coast of the Gulf, in the same direc- 

 tion which the Israelites travelled after their mira- 

 culous passage throuf;h the Red Sea. Several places 

 are identified with the events recorded in the Exo- 

 dus. The Ayoun Mousa, or w^ells of Moses, still 

 aflford a copious supply of sweet water to the Arabs. 

 A little farther on is the well of Howara, the Marah 

 of Scripture, whose bitter waters were sweetened by 

 Moses, and which the Israelites reached at the end 

 of three days* march in the desert. The neighbour- 

 ing valley of Wadi Gharendel, which contains date- 

 trees, tamarisks, acacias of different species, and the 

 thorny shrub, called Gharkad, was probably Elim 

 with its " twelve springs and seventy palm-trees.' 

 The Hamman Faraoun, or baths of Pharaoh, record 

 the fate of that adventurous monarch ; and the 

 superstitious Arabs call the Gulf the Bahr el Kol- 

 zoum, or Sea of Destruction, in whose roaring waters 

 they still pretend to hear the cries and wailings of 

 the drowned Egyptians. The exact spot where this 

 event hnppened, as well as the precise time of march 



